RF power limiters are often employed in various electronic devices to block sensitive circuit components from excess RF power. This may be especially critical in applications such as radio/radar transceivers, wherein transmitter and receiver hardware share a common antenna. More specifically, RF receivers generally include input circuitry comprising sensitive components, such as low-noise amplifier stages, in order to capture relatively weak signals. These components may be damaged by excessively high-powered input signals received from, for example, short-range radar returns as well as the coupling of transmitter output to the receiver's input by antenna reflection and leakage. Further, existing RF power limiters in high-power RF environments typically operate over only a narrow bandwidth, and display significant leakage which may result in damage to these sensitive components. These low-noise amplifiers also cannot be implemented in optimal size due at least in part to their excessive power leakage. For example, when subject to high input power, a low-noise amplifier may leak too much drive power for subsequent stages (e.g. a subsequent drive amplifier). This excess power must be controlled.
Alternative systems and methods are desired for improving RF power limiting over a wide bandwidth, reducing in power leakage, as well as improving packaging and production capabilities.